Transferring mortgage onto credit card

HALLW

Martin recommended trainsfering doing a balance transfer onto credit card by asking for a cash transfer into bank first in order to pay off chunks of mortgage. Any idea which is the best card to do this on right now ( with one year to go before endowment pays out) and can 2 people in the same household apply for the same card to double the debt?
Wendy

mrcow

Virgin credit card do a 'Super Balance Transfer' to a bank account at 0% for 9 months. Check latest info on fees though when you apply, as people seem to be getting conflicting information? (There may be a 2% fee capped at £35 for SBT?)

After the 9 months is up, you can transfer the debt onto any number of 0% cards, just a normal balance transfer until your endowment pays up.

And yes, two people in the same household can have the same card on separate accounts (they'll base your individual credit limits on your individual incomes).

fatboyonadiet

Think Virgin is fee free for the first month, and you use it as a mule once you get other cards but be aware of any future fees, Egg used to be a very good mule but any new customers are now charged BT fees.

HALLW

Thanks for the info guys.
Have just had some info from Virgin and it indicates 3% of outstanding balnce to be paid each month this would give me a debt of £750 whereas I only pay about £100 at present I can't see how this is cheaper, other than getting another card to pay this one at the end of the month and so on. That would get a bit unwieldy after 12 months. Anyone know how this works?
Thanks

Reaper

It's much cheaper because all that £750 is effectively reducing your mortgage, whereas only some of your current £100 pays it off, much is lost in interest payments. Therefore you will pay off your mortgage much quicker.

Now the problem is that £750 may be too much for you to pay. For this reason most people wanting to shift their mortagage to credit cards use an offset or flexible mortgage. These allow you to pay extra in and also take money out. So you can pay off a big wack with a credit card transfer but then take some back out each month to help pay some of your minimum payment.

They also have the benefit that if you can no longer get new 0% cards to move the debt to you simply take the money back out of the mortgage to pay them off rather than being stuck paying large credit card interest rates.

Offset mortgages are not for everyone as the interest rates tend to be higher. So you need to do the maths to see if you will be better off than with your current mortgage or not (including the costs in switching).

The chances are it will not be worth changing mortgages purely to make use of "stoozed" money.

YorkshireBoy

HALLW wrote:

Thanks for the info guys.
Have just had some info from Virgin and it indicates 3% of outstanding balnce to be paid each month this would give me a debt of £750 whereas I only pay about £100 at present I can't see how this is cheaper, other than getting another card to pay this one at the end of the month and so on. That would get a bit unwieldy after 12 months. Anyone know how this works?
Thanks

From Virgin summary box...
=============
Monthly minimum payment The lesser of:
• 2.25% of your balance (min. £5) or
• charges for Payment Protection Cover plus interest and fees, plus £5 or
• your balance, if it's under £5.
============
Your minimum payments are a FIVER (if you don't incur any fees/charges and you don't opt for any payment protection).

You need to do some more reading on the subject. Try Martin's articles (yellow "credit cards" box to left of this screen), similar posts on this board, and https://www.stoozing.com (look for offset mortgage or simply just stooze until mortgage paid).

Reaper

D'oh. I should have read the question closer and noticed it was Virgin you were asking about. Yes, YorkshireBoy is correct - monthly repyments are £5 with Virgin.